Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Blackhat 2015

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 06 Apr 2024

  Director's cut

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  The Trap 1996

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 12 Sep 2023

  Restoration at Shinjuku Piccadilly with talk/q&a.

Popular reviews

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  Original Sin 1992

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 11 Jun 2022

  Ishii & regular collaborators gave us the best, most visually dazzling spin on The Postman Always Rings Twice. Look at those long takes - the printed DVD chapter list even numbers them for you! A highlight among an insanely strong run of films.

  Meeting Ishii at a Gonin/Gonin Saga talk event with Naoto Takenaka a few years ago was a real joy. (''If there are parts of the plot that seem like mumbo jumbo, please watch the directors cut'').

  Gonin was…

• 

  Moon Over Tao: Makaraga 1997

  ★★★★½ Watched 19 Aug 2020

  Pretty awesome fantasy-jidaigeki with Amemiya's typically imaginative effects, Yuko Moriyama in multiple roles, a bloodthirsty final boss and extremely catchy theme music (wouldn't be out of place in a Tenchu game).